WTVM Exclusive: Getting to know MCSD Superintendent David Lewis

It was that first job as a band director that launched David Lewis' 30 plus year career as an educator in the Polk County School System.

"I was hired out of school to be the band director here at Fort Meade High School," David Lewis said.

Jodie Bailey, an elementary principal in the county and good friend of Lewis', remembers meeting him as young college student.

"We were in the process of looking for a Band Director. I was an assistant director at the time, you know, the guy who was the president of the band. I said, 'Yeah, he played the trombone.' He said, 'Yeah, we are going to hire him," recalled Bailey.

For years, he traveled around the county and state competing against other bands in the area. He would share his love and passion for music with the love of his life, his wife Karen, whom he met in college.

"She actually started the choral program here in Fort Meade," Lewis said.

Karen Lewis, who had her reservations about leaving Florida, is looking forward to getting involved with Music Education in Muscogee County, if her husband gets the approval from the school board.

"He works very hard," said Mrs. Lewis. "He is a very driven man, and he studies hard, and he reads hard. "He's very progressive [in his] thinking."

David Lewis has touched the lives of thousands of children over the years, including the lives of his own three children.

"I've always been very proud of my father and he's just been such an inspiration for not only me, but for my brother and my sister," daughter Monica Lewis said.

"He was my coach; he was my coach from T-Ball until I was about 12, which I played baseball then," daughter Stephanie Lewis said.

After teaching in the classroom for several years Lewis decided to go into administration, becoming a principal at the middle and high school level.

"He always wanted to do more than just be in the band room, and so I wasn't surprised one day when he asked if I think he would be administrator," remembered Bailey.

A devoted husband, father, and grandfather, Lewis says that he is hoping the next step in his life can further change the lives of students in the Muscogee County School district. At the same time, he hopes it will inspire and leave a positive impression on his own family.